Skiing with Kids: Hasliberg

We tried Hasliberg in 2015 and liked it so much, we went back again a couple days later. We happened to ski there right after big snow storms, so that may have influenced our opinion. But we really enjoyed the slopes, especially the Twing-Käiserstatt side of the resort, where the kids could try some easy powder fields just off the nicely groomed pistes. I would recommend this resort for beginning intermediate skiers and above, as most runs are red and the blues runs aren’t particularly great. Although the prices are relatively low (especially with the family discount for those with a SBB Junior card), the resort still quality services, like plenty of fast cable cars and lifts with weather bubbles. Elm is still our very favorite but we’ll definitely visit Hasliberg again.

Location:

Central Switzerland

Address:

Reuti, Hasliberg, BE, CH

Car:

~1hr20 from ZH

Train:

~2hr30 from ZH

Suitable for:

advanced beginner to advanced

Lift type:

cable car to reach resort
mostly chairs, a few T-bars, and one cable car in resort

Getting There

The Hasliberg resort is about 30 minutes east of Interlaken. It’s not as far from Zurich as you might think, only 1hr20 by car, about the same as Flumserberg and Elm. From Luzern, it’s only 50 mins by car, about 1hr30 by train/bus.

You can reach the Hasliberg resort from three locations (highlighted in green below): Hasliberg Twing, Hasliberg Reuti and Meirigen in the valley. The ski school is at Bidmi, accessed by the Hasliberg Reuti cable car. The Twing lift is for advanced beginners to intermediate.

Coming from the east (like Zurich or Luzern), drive to the Brunni pass, turning left on Haslibergstrass right after the Brunni train station and Brocki shop. Follow that road until you reach Twing or Reuti, At Twing, there are three metered parking lots (about 7 CHF for the day). Reuti has less parking than Twing: two small metered parking lots with some overflow allowed on the side of the main road. By car, its best to get there before nine or earlier before the lots fill up.

Coming from the west (like Interlaken or Bern), instead drive to Meiringen in the valley, park in the big metered lot, and ride the gondola up to Reuti, then a cable car further up the mountain.

Hasliberg is easily accessible by public transportation, with the bus dropping off right at the Twing and Reuti cable car stations. But it takes about 3 hours from Zurich. From Luzern, it’s only 1hr30, which is more reasonable. You would take a train Brunni-Hasliberg, then a bus to Twing or Reuti.

Tickets

In addition to regular day passes, Hasliberg offers both morning and afternoon tickets for a discount. In 2016, they also offered a 10% discount for the whole family if you show a SBB Junior card for your kids. That worked out to about a 15 CHF discount for me and my two boys.

Overview

The Hasliberg resort has two sides, Twing and Reuti. Although the two sides are connected (with the Bidmi-Kaiserstatt lift in the middle), it can take awhile to ski from one side to the other. So park on the side you want to ski. See Hasliberg website for full slope map.

Ski School

We didn’t do ski school here, so I can’t make a recommendation. But here’s some basic information. The ski school meets at Bidmi, on the Reuti side. They offer a ski garden for 3 to 5 years, short afternoon drop-in lessons, and full day week long lessons. Details and prices on the ski school website.

I’m sure their ski school is professional and provides good instruction. However, based on what I saw in terms of beginner slopes, I still prefer Flumserberg for their snow garden, short bunny hills, and wide blue runs. At Hasliberg, it wasn’t immediately obvious where the beginner’s area would be. Families with little kids seemed to be on the #14 run from Mägisalp to Bidmi (blue) and #4 from Kaiserstatt to Lischen (red),but theses were narrow runs through the forest, which could get quite clogged with traffic. I prefer wider slopes so little ones can make very wide turns without getting run over. If anyone has experience learning to ski at Hasliberg, please leave a comment and let us know how it works.

Slope observations

When we went in 2016, our youngest was 8 yrs old and skied at a beginning intermediate level. He was happy and confident on the #8 runs from Hochsträss to Käiserstatt, which has nicely groomed intermediate runs in the middle with powder fields on the sides for the adults. Our kids found lots of little jumps on the sides of the runs. We were also happy that this lift had a bubble to protect from wind and snow when the weather moved in during the late afternoon. This was our all around favorite part of the resort.

A view from the bottom of the Käiserstatt-Hochsträss lift.

Some of the gentle power fields next to #8, where our kids could safely and easily learn to ski in powder.

The steeper slightly off-piste run leading down the bottom of #8 run.

My kids also enjoyed #12 from Hääggen to Mägisalp (#13 is a trail alternative for beginners). They liked it because it was easy and short with a few little jumps. I didn’t like this run because at the end, it is very flat and you have to walk a hundred meters or so to reach the lift again. To get back to the Mägisalp area, you have to walk and take one or two tow ropes (see below). I found it exhausting dragging my kids by their poles for a few minutes after every run.

We tried the #16 run off Alpen Tower (shown below, pic taken from cable car), which was an appropriate level of difficulty for my kids but not very interesting and had a few problems. First, we found the runs a bit narrow and fast skiers almost clipped my little one a few times as he made his wide turns. Second, you have to cross the T-bar lift a couple times and my kids had a little stress trying to avoid people coming up the lift. Third, in the middle of the run, you have to take a short tow rope uphill before you can continue skiing down the mountain, annoying and sometimes difficult to manage with little kids.

I would not even consider the T-bar along run #15 (shown above),which is very long and steep. My kids and I prefer to rest on my way back up instead of fight to keep our balance.

From the Alpen Tower, we much preferred #18 and #19, which were very fun with lots of variety and fantastic views. They are definitely intermediate level and some sections were a little steep but a good level for my youngest. The only downside for my kids was that it was a very long run, all the way to Bidmi. They wanted to take a break halfway down, which we should have done at the Gummenalp restaurant.

Top of #19 with big views.

Part of #19 shown below, my 8 year old in the middle.

Looking down #19

We tried the connecting trail #9 from the top of the Hääggen-Glogghüs lift over to Hochsträss. It’s a long flat easy trail with amazing views, a fun treat for advanced beginners that aren’t usually skiing that high up. We had to walk a lot (see below), but no danger.

Big views from the top of #9

To get back to Mägisalp, beginners should ski down to Käiserstatt #8, then #5 to Bidmi, then ride the cable car back up. However, we took the black #11 run, which is very steep and challenging. We were very proud of our kids for making down but I wouldn’t recommend it unless your kids are very good skiers.

Don’t expect to ski below Lischen or Bidmi. We went in late February after a big snowstorm and the snow quality was great up top, but run #23 from Bidmi to Reuti was very wet and muddy despite teh snow makers. The run #21 from Lischen to Twing was closed. I suspect these two runs are often closed.

Sledding

There are three sled runs, from Mägisalp to Bidmi, from Winterlicken to Reuti, and Käiserstatt to Lischen. My family did the last of these and did not like it at all. They said it was too slow and they had to walk a lot, even uphill. I’m guessing the Mägisalp one is better. Sleds are available for rental at the lift stations.